The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1887-01-21
TURKEY AND THE TURKS.

L l.
Gen. Lew Wallace, with whose name
almost every reader is acquainted, and
especially as the author of that ad.
mirable book entitled "Ben Rur,"
which has found it's way into nearly
every family here and elsewhere, de-
livered a lecture in Milwaukee on
Turkey, Thursday evening last week.
Gen. Wallace, having been the resident
minister of the United States at Con
stantinople, was able to study and be-
came familiar with the Turkish people.
Gen. Wallace puts Turkey in a new
light, and dispels many of the popular
fallacies which have been so generally
entertained in this country. His lee.
ture was given in Emanuel Presbyte.
rian church before an audience esti-
mated at 1900. The Milwaukee Senti-
mel gives a summary of the lecture,
from which we take paragraphs, which
may be interesting to our readers:
The Turks, he said, were one of
the heroic races of the earth-one
which had not q counterpart since the
days of Caesar. The Turks mental or
ganismswas acute, but he had no facul-
ty for mechanics, and the business of
the country was largely transacted by
foreigners. The libraries were com.
posed largely of commentaries on the
Koran. The faith of the Turk had
undergone no change from the earliest
days, the God is the Cod and any re-.
ligion is better than none." This was
the Turks belief, and the speaker be.
lieved that in this respect many Chris
tians would do we'll to initiate the
Turk.
NO DRUNKEN TURKS.
Gen. Wallace said he had seen many
drunken men in the streets of Constan-
tinople, but never drunken Turk-the
prohibition Of the wine held good !.
His love for children was great, and
such a thing as cruelty to a dumb beast
was unknown. One of the Turkish
characteristics was the mans respect
for woman, and the soldier police on
the streets were there not to protect
the man, but to clear way for the la
dies. The Turk was the most polite
Of all Europeans.
The faith of the lower people was as
green as the day they received it. Gen.
Wallace had seen men go to the side of
highway to pray. The Turk would
first look at the heavens, then throw
off his coat and stand upon it, close his
eyes and become distracted; first he
would kneel, kiss the earth, arise and
say simple prayer: God is God and
Mohammed is his prophet"
Gen. Wallace devoted considerable
time to the correction of the most
common errors. The harem, he said,
was place which, rendered into pure
old Saxon, meant home," with all it's
sacredness, and not, as it is popularity
believed, prison for the confinement
of the women of the rich mans house
hold. After little investigation of
the harem, the speaker said it was seen
in a new light. The women were not
slaves, but lived in ease and refinement,
had their servants, black and white,
went shopping alone and ran up the
bills-which the husband paid-all
patterned after the American style of
doing such things. They were not re-
stricted in any way. The women of
the harem were contented, they were
lavish in the use of cosmetics, and al
though they wore close wells, the ma
terial was slowly but surely becom-
ing thinner and thinner as time pro-
crossed. The head dress of the women
of Constantinople was. the speaker
said. without rival-it made the ugly
handsome and the handsome angelic.
THE SULTAN.
Gen. Wallace is an admirer of the
sultan, who, he said, welded greater
power than any other monarch in Eu-
rope; he was liberal in his opinions,
and believed that to be good Chris
tian was next to being good Moham-
medan," and condemned thederision of
Christ